Patch release 88.2

[astronewt]

A patch release has just been put out. It fixes a few of the major problems with expanding threads and other AJAX-y style problems with the new commenting form. We also wanted to let you know about the tickets that have already been filed regarding the commenting form (so you can see if problems you're seeing have already been reported or not) and

Comments

[astronewt]

As far as I'm aware, all users will retain the ability to edit comments even if a way is found to add a preview functionality back into the commenting form. (As in, we wouldn't take it away at that point, if preview was added back.)

As far as whether a way will be found to actually get a preview function in there again, though, I don't have an answer on that yet.

Edited: Gah, totally hit 'post' too soon there and didn't address your second question, sorry.

From what I've been told and from the discussions I've seen, comment subject lines won't be put back into the new form by default. If that decision is changed, I'm sure we'd announce that when it happened, but as far as I know, they're not coming back. (Which I know isn't the answer anyone wants to hear, and I apologize for that, but it's the info I have.)

Right now, a user/comm can turn on customized commenting pages for S2 styles to get subject line usage/display back, and then there's the new S2 commenting page that will be made coming up soon here that will mimic the previous S1 display.

[musikurt]

As far as I'm aware, all users will retain the ability to edit comments even if a way is found to add a preview functionality back into the commenting form. (As in, we wouldn't take it away at that point, if preview was added back.)

So the solution to not heeding the feedback in beta is to lessen the value of paid accounts?

[soph]

The oddest thing is that it's a great feature, and one that will surely cause people to think seriously about dropping to Basic, since they don't need a Paid account for it any more.

They're kind of shooting the,selves in the foot with this one.

[musikurt]

Maybe part of the plan is to devalue paid accounts so people drop them - then that way when they roll out releases like this that break the site and aren't what we want, less people can legitimately say "WE PAY FOR THIS SERVICE" *shrug*

[myrana]

Okay, so I have two question for you based on this (and thank you so much for taking the time to actually respond).

1. Is restoring the preview function something that is being actively worked on, a priority?

Because whilst I appreciate the ability to edit comments, it's obviously not the same as previewing before you post. People usually like to check that their comment/spelling/HTML/etc is correct before they post it, to avoid looking silly.

And I mean, in the comment you just posted, you forgot to add something and had to edit it to include it - if I'd replied to you too quickly, you wouldn't have been able to do that, correct? (As the post says: "Note that comments can be edited by the author up until the point the comment is replied to by another user.") Which seems like a pretty bad feature.

Surely having the preview function restored should be a priority, to avoid things like that?

2. You admit that the fact we're not getting subject lines back isn't the answer anyone wants to hear. Can you explain why we're not getting them back?

I mean, surely the higher-ups must have some reason for this, right? What's their rationale for getting rid of something that the majority of the complaints so far have been about?

[kaberett]

Preview function

Additionally, editing comments as a substitute for preview will lead to people getting rather more e-mails containing near-identical information (in a way that breaks gmail's threading, no less).

[txvoodoo]

question: did you guys run this through a compliance/accessibility check? Cause. WHOA. Bad.

And I guess I'm stuck using my christmas dog icon for a while

[stillicides]

Not what I wanted to hear, no, but I do appreciate the polite response. Thank you very much.

I remain very concerned that users who chose not to log-in or who do not have paid accounts (and therefore cannot use S2 commenting pages) will still not have the original functionality of the site.

[shveta_thakrar]

It simply doesn't make sense not to offer subject lines. They've been incredibly useful to many people up to now, and those who don't want to use them don't have to. But they certainly aren't hindering anyone or anything, so why not just give them back and make your userbase happy? You know, those people you want to stick around and actually use LiveJournal?

[capri_chan]

I wanted to thank you for replying to these questions, and even questions I didn't have. It's nice to have someone on the inside give us answers, even if the answers involve the phrase "as far as I know" or "I'm not sure."

Makes me feel like at least someone pays attention to us.

[musikurt]

THIS

[yeuxdebleu]

I'd just like to add my plea for keeping the preview feature. It's the only way you can tell if you've typed an LJ user's name correctly...yeuxdebleu...or properly typed a URL code to make a clickable link, or properly posted a photo.

Having said that, at the bottom of this comment window, I still see the preview button. Has it been restored or was it never actually removed?

[etherial]

Will S2 ever be able to mimic S1 at all? Look at my style. There's no way to replicate that in S2.

Comment titles are one of the things that set livejournal a cut above the rest of the social media platforms. I'm utterly flabbergasted that you'd willingly choose to lose part of your edge.

[doodles_cats]

Your icon makes me cry...